Electroplating apparatus



W. F. HALL ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS Fil ed April 22, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 22 1924.. I 1,501,94

W; F. HALL ELIECTROPLATINYG APPARATUS Filed April 28, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet gvwewcoz 313 4 awed/W n34 Jul 22 1924.

w. F. HALL ELECTROPLATI NG APPARATUS Filed April 28, 1922 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 T ai lvll wu mi ii A July 22 1924u w. F. HALL ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I File'd April 28, 1922 "HHHHHH 'IIHHH Patented July 22, 1924..

WESLEY F. HALL, IMATAWAN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGINOR TO A. I. MUNNING 86 (10., OF

- NEW YORK, N. Y., A GOR I'ORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS.

Application filed April 28 1922; Serial No. 557,116.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, .WESLEY F. HALL, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Matawan, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Elect-roplating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a machine designed to carry articles to be electro-plated duringthe electro-plating process, and to convey such articles through the successive baths which may beemployed to condition.

the articles for electro-plating and treat the same after the plating operation has been completed. Thus in a general way the machine functions to immerse the articles in and conduct them through a series of tanks containing the several baths, and to raise them above each tank at the delivery end thereof, and then lower them into the entrance end of the tank next succeeding. It will be understood that the machine is applicable in principle to other similar uses where articles are to be conveyed through tanks, chambers and the like.

One object of the invention is to provide a machine of the above character which will reduce to a minimum the time'of exposure v of the articles'to the air, between baths, thus avoiding undue oxidation or other chemical reaction upon the surfaces being treated at a time when they are wet with the different solutions used in the electro-plating process.

Another object is to arran'e the mechanism for transferring the articles to be plated from one tank to another in such a way that s bstantially the full length of each tank may be usefully employed for treatin the articles- Anot ier object is to shorten the time con sumed in passing the articles through the series of tanks, to enable the machine to operate at higher production.

Other objects are to simplify the mechanical structure of the machine, particularly in regard to the number and character of the parts employed to convey the articles through the tanks and transfer them from one tank to another, and the holder for the articles to be plated, and also in regard to the proper insulation of the parts which enter into the electric circuit.

\Vhen tanks are employed through which the work holders pass in a curved path, an-

other object is to avoid interference between such as tank 1 which adjacent Work holders at points Where they are dis osed at an angle to each other.

Furt er objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the description hereinaftercontained, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof; such embodiment, however, is to be considered merely as illustrative of its principle. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevationshowing a portion of an electroplating machine constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation as the apparatus appears looking from Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a side and front view of the work holder 'shown detachedr I ,Fig. 5 is a sectionon line 5-5 of Fig; 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figs. 6 and 7 are sections respectively'on lines 66 of Fi 3 and 77 of Fig. 4.

Referring to t e drawings, I have shown the apparatus as a whole suspended above two adjacent tanks 1 and 2, separated by a partition 3, through which tanks the articles to be plated are to be successively passed. As illustrated, the apparatus as a whole is supported by four uprights 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively, adapted to be suspended from the ceiling. The conveying mechanism forthe work holders is driven from a vertical shaft 8 shown at the left of Fig. 1, running in a bearing '9 at the top supported by brackets 10 extending from uprights 4 and 6, and supportedaat the bottom by bearing 11 in bracket-12 extendingcfrom uprights '4 and 6.

the right'of Fig. 1.

are disposed underneath the straight portions of .the chain between the ends of the apparatus, such as tank 2, and further tanks is disposed underneath sprocket .wheel 13 and is of horseshoe shape,

c rresponding to the a h 9 il'avel of the conveying mechanism around the sprocket wheel. The form of chain illustrated comrises links made up of side pieces 14 having vertical holes .15 therein at opposite ends, and top and bottom pieces 16 having holes 17 therein and connected to side pieces 14 by means of pins 18 extending through the holes and 17. I prefer to support the chain intermediate the sprocket wheels at the ends of the apparatus, by means of a suitable track. The form of ,track illustrated consists of metallic strips 19 spaced 7 apart by blocks '20 and suitably supported over the tanks as by means of brackets 21 from adjacent uprights 4 and 5 or 6 and 7 as the case may be. Side pieces 14 are provided with vertical rollers 22 which engage the top surfaces of the track, while horizontal rollers 23 are provided on the pins 18 to engage the usual notches in the sprocket wheels. The lower rollers 23 also run between the metallic strips 19, and serve to guide the chain properly against lateral displacement with reference thereto. Thus the conveying mechanism is supported by sprocket wheels at the ends of the apparatus, and the tracks whichextend along the sides of the apparatus between the sprocket wheels, serve to support the chain along the sides of the apparatus and relieve them from strains due to the weight of the articles to be plated. I

' The work holder (shown detached in Figs. 3 and 4) consists in general of a metallic frame having a shelf 24 adapted to rest upon the top surface of the chain, and thus support the work during its normal travel, bars 25 being provided in the present form which depend from the shelf 24, and are connected at their bottom ends by a cross piece 26 which carries the work support 27. from which the articles to be plated, or containers therefor, usually will be directly suspended. It will be understood that such work support 27 may be disposed in the plane of the work holder, or at an angle thereto, depending upon the-character of I the articles to be plated.

As each work holder is carried along through the succession of baths by the chain, it is necessary for the articles to be plated to be raised above each tank as they reach the delivery end thereof, moved beyond the tank, and lowered into the entrance end of the tank next succeeding. It is also de sir-able that the time of exposure of the articles to the air between tanks be as short as possible, for the articles are wet with the solution through which they have'just passed, and a long exposure may result in deleterious chemical action thereon. If the movement of the aforesaid conveying mechanism berelied upon to transfer the articles from one tank to another, the speed at which the articles can be transferred is limited by moneae the rate at which it is desired to move the articles through the tanks, and it is difficult to reduce the exposure of the articles to the air tothe desired extent.

According to the presentinvention I prefer to provide moving parts which engage the work holder at the proper time to transfer the same as aforesaid, and which are not limited in their rate of motion to the speed of the conveying mechanism, and consequently by increasing the speed of this transfer mechanism to move the work holders more rapidly, the exposure of the articles to the air may be substantially reduced. Furthermore, if the motion of the chain be relied on to transfer the articles from one tank to the other, the up and down motion of the articles in raising them from one tank and lowering them into the next, must. be accompanied by a substantial horizontal component of motion in order that the horizontal movement of the conveying mechanism may be made effective, and thus the articles rise obliquely from and enter obliquely into the tanks; thereby a substantial fraction of the solution or bath in each tank, adjacent its ends, is not usefully employed, in that the articles to be plated do not pass therethrough; but if an additional transfer mechanism be employed of the character above described, it is possible for the up and down movements of the work holders to be made substantially vertical, whereby they may be raised from one tank only after they have moved substantially to the'delivery end thereof, and lowered into the entrance end of the next tank only such'forwardmovement as is necessary -to ,clear the partition wall, thus utilizing substantially the full length of each tank.

lln the illustrated embodiment of the invention the work holders are detachably engaged with the conveying mechanism by providing upwardly extending extensions 28 on certain of the vertical pins 18, which extensions pass loosely through holes 29 in the shelves 24 of each work holder. When the work holderreaches the position shown in Fig. 1, in which the articles to be plated have reached substantially the delivery end of tank 1, the Work holder is raised bodily from off the chain and above the tank, moved over the entrance'end of tank 2, and then lowered into the tank and on top of the chain in such manner that the holes 29 of the work holder register with pins 28 on the chain.

In the particular construction shown, the work holder is provided with a hooked portion 30 having a slot 31 (Fig. 4) therein, and a rotary arm 32 is mounted above the chain and provided with a flanged roller 33 which engages groove 31 when the work holder reaches the delivery end of the tank, and the arm 32 is rotated in a clockwise livery end of tank 1.

In the present form of the invention, the desired movement of the arm 32 is obtained by providing a cam member 34, in which runs a roller 35 (Fig. 2) carried by arm 32 opposite to the roller 33 previously described, and the arm 32 is slidably mounted in a rotary block 36, as by means of anti-friction rollers 37 in the block engaging the sides of the arm. Block 36 is carried in the outer end of shaft 38 (Fig.

2) which runs in suitable bearings 39 mounted upon a bracket 40 supported between the uprights, and provided with a bevel gear 41 which engages a mating gear 42 on a jack shaft 43 running lengthwise of the machine between the uprights. Ad jacent the end of the machine, shaft 43, is provided with a bevel pinion 44, meshing with gear 45 on shaft 8, the speed of the travel of the .rotary arm 32 being adjusted to transfer the work holders between the tanks rapidly and with such velocity with regard to the speed of travel of the chain that the work holder will be lowered into the entrance end of the next tank and into. proper engagement with a set of extended pins 28 at the time when roller 33 is at the lower right hand end of track 34 as the same appears in Fig. 1, whereby the roller will pass downwardly out of engagement with the work holder and permit the latter to pass to its normal position with shelf 24 resting on the top of the conveying mechanism.

Itwill be understood that similar transfer mechanism comprising the rotary arm 32 and associated parts will be located along the apparatus at points corresponding to the partitions between the tanks, the shaft 43 eing extended for this purpose, and uprights similar to members 4 to 7 disposed where necessary. 4 c

In order to guide the work holder properly in its movement through the tanks, I provide a guide rail 46 extending along the path of travel of the work holder and adapted to bear against the same and maintain it in proper position. The guide rail may be supported in any suitable manner, as by brackets 47 extending from the uprights. It will be noted that the shelf 24 supports the work holder on the inner side of the centre of gravity of the latter, whereby the work holder naturally swings toward the guide rail 46 and is maintained in engagement therewith to maintain the articles to be plated in proper position with respect to the anodes 48 within the tank. At points where the chain is following a curved path, such-as in the horseshoe shaped tankswhich correspond to the sprocket wheels, the work supports of adjacent work holders are notmaint-ained parallel to each other, and particularly where the work supports are arranged transversely to the work holders, and therefore converge radially, the articles carried by the inner ends of the work holder are liable to interfere with each other. At such points in the apparatus, I cause the work holders to follow a path of greater radius of curvature than the .radius of curvature of the path of travel of the conveying mechanism. As shown in Fig. 5, this is accomplished by enlarging the guide rail 46 adjacent sprocket vwheel 13, with the result that when the work holders, carried by the chain, pass around the sprocket wheel, the guide rail 46 spreads the same so to speak in such manner that the above-mentioned difliculty is avoided.

In the present form of the invention, current is conducted from the articles to be plated through contact members 49 mounted on conducting plates 50,-which extend from a similar plate 57 disposed across the hooked portion 30 of the holder, such contact members 49 wiping over a cathode rail 51 supported from the uprights as by brackets 52 (Fig. 2), and suitably insulated therefrom. I prefer to lead the current from the work support 27 to the cathode rail in such manner that the metallic parts-in the apparatus as a whole do not enter into the electric circuit. The work support 27, therefore, is insulated from cross piece 26 bythe insulating layers 53 and the insulating bushings 54 (Fig. 7) while the conducting plate 57 is similarly insulated from the hooked portion 30 of the work holder, by means of layers 55 of insulation and insulating bushings 56. A conductor 58 leads from work support 27 to a member such as plate 57 which is in conductive relation to the contact members 49. Thus the problem of insulating the apparatus is simplified. since the circuit is restricted to a few small conducting parts which may be readily inspected, and it is not necessary to provide insulation for the metallic framework of the work holder, transfer mechanism, etc.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described, it will be obvious that. many changes may be made therein without departing from the principle of the work holder from said conveying mechanism, and raising the work holder above the tank.

2. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, at conveying mechanism adapted to move said work holder along a series of tanks, and means engaging said work holder at the delivery end of a tank for disconnecting such work holder from said conveying mecha-- nism, raising the work holder above the tank, lowering the same into the entrance end of the succeeding tank and reconnecting the work holder to said conveying mechanism.

3. An electroplating apparatus comprising a Work holder for articles to be plated, a conveying mechanism adapted to support such work holder and move the same along a series of tanks, and means for engaging said work holder at the delivery end of a tank for raising said work holder from said conveying mechanism, carrying the work holder beyond the tank and lowering the same into position to be supported again by said conveying mechanism.

4. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, a conveying mechanism adapted to move said work holder along a tank, an arm rotating in a substantially vertical plane adapted to engage said work holder at the delivery end of the tank for disconnecting such work holder from said conveying mechanism and raising the work holder above the tank, and a cam member controlling the path of movement of said arm.

5. An electroplating apparatus compris' ing a work holder for articles to be plated, a chain detachably connected with said work holder and adapted to move the same along a tank, and means engaging said work holder at the delivery end of the tank for disconnecting the work holder from the chain, raising the work holder above the tank, moving the same beyond the tank, and then lowering the work holder into engagement with the chain.

6. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, a chd'in adapted to support said work holder and move the same along a tank, an arm engageable with said work holder at the delivery end of the tank, and means for controlling the movement of said arm to elevate the work holder from the supporting chain, move the same beyond the tank, and then lower the work holder into position to be supported by said chain.

7. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, a chain adapted to move said Work holder along a tank, said work holder being provided with a ledge adapted to rest upon such chain, a rotary guide block located adjacent menses the delivery end of the tank, an arm slidably mounted on said block and having a portion engageable with said Work holder, and a cam member also engaging said arm to control the motion thereof to lift the work holder from off said conveying belt and above the tank, and move the work holder beyond the tank.

8.'An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, a conveying mechanism adapted to move said work holder along a tank, and means operable at the delivery end of the tank for disconnecting such Work holder from said conveying mechanism, raising the, work holder above the tank, and moving the same forwardly into engagement with the conveying mechanism at a speed greater than the speed of travel of the conveying mechanism.

9. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, an endless conveying mechanism adapted to move said work holder along a tank, and means operable at the delivery end ot' the tank for moving the work holder beyond the tank and then placing the same in engagement with a portion of the conveying mechanism located in advance of the portion previously in engagement therewith.

10. An electroplating apparatus comprising a conveying mechanism located above and extending along a tank, a work holder for articles to be plated supported from said mechanism to permit movement of the Work holder transverse to the motion of the conveying mechanism, and a guide rail disposed along the path of travel of said mechanism and bearing against the work holder to control the transverse position thereof.

11. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, a conveying mechanism adapted to move said work holder along a curved path, and means for controlling the motion of said work holder to produce a'radius of curvature in the path of travel thereof, greater than the radius of curvature of the path of travel of the conveying mechanism when the latter is following a curved path.

12. An electroplating apparatus comprisin a work holder for articles to be plated, an endless chain adapted to move said work holder along a tank, and means for con trolling the path of movement of said work holder to produce aradius of curvature thereof at curved portions of such chain greater than the radius in curvature of the chain at such portions.

13. An electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder for articles to be plated, an endless chain passing around sprocket wheels and adapted to support said work holder and carry the same along, a guide rail engaging said work holder to control the having a radius of: curvature greater than that of the sprocket wheels'at points in the path of travel of the work holder which correspond to the sprocket wheels.

14. An electroplating apparatus compris ing a work holder for articles to be plated, a traveling chain adapted to support said work holder and move the latter along a tank, and a supporting track for said chain mounted above said tank, said chain being provided with rollers engaging said track.

15. In an electroplating apparatus comprising a work holder com-prising a metallic frame, a conductive work su port connected to the lowerend of such rame but electrically insulated therefrom, a cathode contact member mountedupon the upper portion of said frame but electrically insulated therefrom, and an electrical conductor extending between said work support and said cathode contact member.

16. An electroplating apparatus comprising a traveling chain extendin along a tank, a supporting track therefor ocated thereunder and a work holder for. the articles to be plated comprising a frame having a ledge engageable with the upper surface of 531d" chain to suspend the frame therefrom.

17. An electroplating apparatus comprising a traveling chain extending along a tank, a supporting track therefor located thereunder and a work holder for the arti cles to be plated comprising a frame having a ledge engageable with the upper surface of said chain to suspend the frame there- 7 from, anda guide rail extending along the -pathof travel of the work holder, said work older being urged into engagement. with said guide rail.

18. An electroplating apparatus comprising a traveling chain moving along a tank, a work holder for articles to be plated hav in a in' and slot en agement, having a le ge a apted to rest on said chain and provided with a pin and hole engagement therewith, the work holder frame above said ledge being provided with a hooked portion and a rotary arm located adjacent the del' ery end of the tank adapted to engage such hooked portion to elevate the work holder from the chain and movethe work holder beyond the tank and deliver the same back into engagement withthe chain.

In testimony that I claim the fore oing, I have hereunto set my hand this 18 ay of April, 1922. v WESLEY F. HALL. 

